Earlier this month, Smotrich said the government had approved the establishment of 104 new illegal settlements and 160 agricultural settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank since taking office in late 2022.
About 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in 141 illegal settlements and 224 settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.
The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said illegal settlers carried out 3,488 attacks against Palestinians and their property during the first half of 2026, including assaults on villages, arson attacks, shootings, land seizures and the establishment of new illegal settlement outposts.
The commission said the attacks killed 17 Palestinians.
Palestinian officials warn that continued settlement expansion and settler attacks are paving the way for Israel‘s formal annexation of the occupied West Bank, undermining prospects for an independent Palestinian state envisioned in relevant UN resolutions.
